Large dog pooping along bus path daily despite the signs asking dog walkers to clean up after their pet.

New Landscapers doing a great job cleaning up and beautifying the common areas already, noticed by several board members and even received an email from a resident saying so.

Jill would like to restructure the files so all the contracts are together.

Accounting/Homeowners Association Software:

Jill asked the Wheelwright tax her accountanting friend, and they recommended Quickbooks as the best accounting software out there. They recommended not updating the current version and it would still be useful.

The tax accountant Her friend has helped her to navigate the current accounting software to speed up tasks required by the Treasurer to complete.

HOA software: talked to our Alliance Community and they are working on a quote for the cluster financials

Tree Work:

Kerri did a walkthrough to look at the trees, recommended some trees trimmed, some removed and then add grass

Talked to the landscaping vendor about picking up the leaves (per the contract) instead of blowing the leaves into the woods and instead of picking them up, discussed drainage issues with leaves and cleaning up yards. Landscaping company will provide some solutions on drainage.

Tree committee charter

Dan & Mike drafted a charter and sent out to the board to review this morning.

Board member comments regarding draft charter:

Additional clarity about who exactly is selecting the tree assessment professionals is needed.

Yes, it should be 1 chair, 1 member for minimum number of Tree Committee members.

I agree, we need details on if they can hire/engage a new company or is the selection of the vendor a decision of the board. My thought is that they can get bids, but the board will need to review and approve a vendor before any work is completed. (allows us to control finances).

Can we add in a note about emergency work? If emergency work is required (e.g. a tree falling in someone’s house) the tree committee shall be engaged but decision making will revert back to the board. I am thinking we need this as we coordinate with more than just the tree vendor, last time we talked to RA, the lawyers and our insurance.

We should ensure that any time they meet with tree professionals, the board needs to be notified in a reasonable amount of time so that a board member can participate. Possibly include: These meetings will also be communicated to the community so they can attend as well.

We should also include that if the board finds that the tree committee is not fulfilling their stated purpose, members can be asked to leave or the committee can be disbanded. This requires a majority vote by the board.

Concrete Contract – assigned to Danny

He has been contact with the contractor and wanted to clarify if it was just for sidewalks and walkways – yes

Danny will ask contractor to come out next week to start working on a major project

Jessica and Danny to walk community on 3/12 to review areas needed.

Erosion work

2249 has water running by and collecting by that house at the bottom of the hill, also include as part of the community erosion project

Kristina sent an email about the erosion work

Trash services update

Trash service has been going well with no more hiccups.

Survey results – updates

Sent to the board for review, no additional findings beyond what was previously noted. Feedback will be included in 2019 projects.

Little Free Library

Designs reviewed and will be submitted for DRB approval. Requested location was moved to further in the community between 2241 and 2243.

Plan to include for the spring cluster cleanup.

Financials

Jill has had problems with our billing with the lawyer and tried to contact the vendor several times. Still no response after 3 weeks.

Tree Work:

Kerri did a walkthrough to look at the trees, recommended some trees trimmed, some removed and then add grass

Talked to the vendor about blowing the leaves into the woods instead of picking them up, discussed drainage with leaves and cleaning up yards

Long term, addressing the leaves will help with ongoing issues with erosion work

Cluster Cleanup Date:

Confirmed Looking at April 27 for Spring Cluster cleanup as it’s after Easter

That date works best with everyone at the meeting

Jessica requested us to provide input on projects for cluster cleanup to do:

Will NOT need to paint benches – landscaping will do this as part of their 2019 work.

Don’t need more flowers – landscaping will do this as part of the 2019 work

Build and paint Little Free Library–Board members should send their vote for the best option you like based on options in this month’s agenda. Install the weekend before Cluster Cleanup and then paint it during the cleanup.Cutting and painting needs to occur before the cluster cleanup and then it can be assembled the day of the cleanup.

One suggestion was to put the free library by the sidewalk at the entrance to give users more room and less likelihood to get strangers in our neighborhood.

Treasurer Duties:

Delay getting notifications from Trash Company and asked Sarah to reach out to Bates Trucking to send her that contact information for billing.

Jill, who has taken over as Treasurer, feels like the Treasurer role should be a paid position due to the amount of work required to complete the tasks and keep up with duties. Board members agreed that it was something to look into over the next year as a possibility and will consult with the lawyer to see how that could be implemented as well as the level of compensation. Suggestions were free dues for the time of service or $100/month.

All board members should have access to the cluster email now. If you haven’t tried to access it, please do and let Jessica know if you cannot.

Jessica will add more admins to the Facebook page so others can help make posts when needed.

DRB application to Reston was submitted to Reston Association (RA) staffer Sarah Gaston. It was submitted without signatures so was rejected until signatures could be obtained for entire row at entrance (2201-2215). Kristina needs help getting signatures for entire row so Jessica will assist in that task.

Cluster sign was stolen after last cluster cleanup, so a new one was purchased. Danny will take over duties of putting out sign and pick it up from Mike.

Concrete Contract – assigned to Danny

Work has been identified by same contractor who did work in 2018 to fix tripping hazards in 2019.

An entire proposal for all work that was identified with a contractor walk through exists and will be shared with Danny to help work on scheduling some of the work.

Danny will work on getting additional quotes for the work.

The drainage/pooling of water issues identified in front of 2231 were discussed and possible solutions presented by contractor. Danny will work on this issue with specific costs.

Trash Contract – assigned to Sarah

Waste Management (previous contractor) sold all HOA contracts to Bates Trucking, effective January 1, 2019. All existing contracts will be honored.

Will reach out to contractor to confirm trash schedules and post on the website/Facebook page.

Will talk to the general manager about billing process and when to expect bills.

Also will request the notification process for when dates and pickup schedules change.

Landscaping Contract – assigned to Kristina

Newcastle is the new contractor starting January 1, 2019.

Currently doing a weekly sticks pickup from residents yards.

Plans from contractor (included in proposal) are to paint and stain cluster benches, add in butterfly garden, in addition to other landscaping duties.

Electricity Contract – assigned to Kristina

Will call Dominion Energy about two watch lights in front of 2233 and 2235/2237 being out and have it fixed.

Dominion is now requesting cluster account number when issues are reported by board and requests to fix cluster lights must be called in by a board member -residents can’t call it in.

All agreed he did a great job with the last snowstorm in clearing the parking lots.

He has been doing a great job invoicing the board once a job is complete.

Currently budgeted $8,000 for snow removal, which depending on rest of winter season, we could have a surplus of funds for this budget item.

HOA Software Discussion:

Mike (Pendleton) proposed we look into the possibility of purchasing an HOA software to help manage administrative tasks for the board and keep us organized, including a financial software to replace Quickbooks.

He has done research and came up with a few options – some issues is they may not include financial software or software becomes unsupported and out of date quickly. Mike is going to wait until Jill does financial software research to make sure they can work together.

Sarah will ask Franklin Farm HOA board contact about software they might be using and if they recommend anything.

Jill will reach out to RA and inquire if they have any recommendations, in addition to doing research on other financial software available besides Quickbooks.

Quickbooks is cumbersome and not user friendly and often screws up financial data, making it so the Treasurer must manually do tasks to understand where discrepancies lie.

Dues for Furloughed Fed Workers:

It was proposed by a couple board members that we give furloughed federal worker residents extra time to pay dues without penalties if government shutdown continues.

Now that government is temporarily open, a plan will be worked on for if/when the shutdown occurs again. Residents experiencing difficulties should notify a board member and show their government issued ID as proof of federal employment.

Jessica will write a blurb for the Wheelwrighter to inform residents of the plan.

Tree Committee: Mike and Danny will be liaisons for this committee

The board must create a tree committee per the referendums passed at the 2018 Annual meeting in December.

No official guidelines were given so board will write them up in a charter for the committee and outline responsibilities for tree committee members and board members.

The annual meeting was held at the Reston Community Center located at Hunters Woods on Thursday, December 6th at 7 pm. The meeting minutes were later approved by the Board (both current and out-going members) via email. They are available in PDF form here: December 2018 Annual Meeting Minutes. If you would like them in an alternate format, please contact the Secretary.

The minutes for the November 8, 2018 board meeting were approved via email following the annual meeting on December 6, 2018. They are available in PDF form here: Meeting Minutes 110818. If you would like them in an alternate format, please contact the Secretary.

The Board has set up a GoToMeeting to allow owners unable to attend in person to participate. The GoToMeeting will start a half hour before the actual meeting begins at 7 pm and run later than the actual meeting is expected to last to cover all eventualities. The complete instructions are included below.

The annual meeting will be held on Thursday, December 6th at 7 pm. The meeting will take place at the Reston Community Center located at Hunters Woods.

As noted in the recent Wheelwrighter distributed to residents, the Wheelwright Board is proposing an increase in quarterly dues to address increased costs for many of the services that the cluster utilizes and saving for future large expenses. Your attendance at the annual meeting is needed to discuss and vote on this increase. Other topics that will be discussed include:

The minutes for the October 4, 2018 board meeting were approved at the November 8, 2018 board meeting. They are available in PDF form here: Meeting Minutes 100418. If you would like them in an alternate format, please contact the Secretary.

The minutes for the August 23, 2018 board meeting were approved at the October 4, 2018 board meeting. They are available in PDF form here: Meeting Minutes 082318. If you would like them in an alternate format, please contact the Secretary.

The minutes for the June 28, 2018 board meeting were approved at the August 23, 2018 board meeting. They are available in PDF form here: Meeting Minutes 062818. If you would like them in an alternate format, please contact the Secretary.